Shortage of Asian Managers in the UK
(20 June 2002)

What do Lloyds TSB, BT, Ford, ASDA and the British Aiports Authority (BAA) have in common? As well as being amongst the most well-known brands in the UK, they are also just a few of the businesses reacting to the needs of the ethnic minority market. Apart from re-defining their products and services to capture a major slice of the £12-£15 billion spending capacity of the ethnic market, they are embracing diversity and are integrating it within their HR (human resource) policies.

Elsewhere, the outlook is bleak as a new report by the 'Race for Opportunity' network shows. This major benchmarking report on race and diversity in corporate Britain covering 2.75 million UK employees in 99 private and public sector organisations (including 18 of the FTSE 100) has revealed a noticeable lack of black and Asian managers, particularly at the most senior level.

Entitled "Race: Creating Business Value" it draws on a comprehensive survey of members of Race for Opportunity (RfO), the business network of UK organisations working on race and diversity as a business agenda. It provides a detailed picture of current activity in this area as well as the latest trends and developments, identifying top performers by industry sector. The ten key indicators of organisational performance used in the survey cover leadership and vision, investment, policy and planning, communication, marketing, ownership, employment (selection and retention, development and training), community involvement, supplier development and results/impact.

Only 44 Ethnic Managers out of 3 million employees

The survey shows that despite the fact the organisations surveyed employ almost three million people, only 44 ethnic minority individuals currently hold posts at the most senior level, with no black or other ethnic minority chief executives in any of the private sector organisations. Nor are there any black or Asian Permanent Secretaries in any of the central government departments surveyed. Only 3.4% of senior managers are from ethnic minorities, whilst the overall number at managerial level is 4.1 per cent (11,862 people).

Nevertheless, the research shows that significant investment is being made across the board in developing and retaining ethnic minority employees and customers as Britain's major employers increasingly tackle race equality in the workplace, although much remains to be done.

Asians in lower-paid retailing jobs

The financial institutions surveyed employ approximately 1.5 million people, but only 1.6 % (23,393 people) are ethnic minorities. The biggest employers of ethnic minority people are the retail sector, where they make up 8.4% of the current workforce, or 46,590 people. Unsurprisingly, the majority of ethnic minority employees are in non-management positions, comprising 8.9% of the 1.2million non-managerial staff in the organisations surveyed.

The report builds on the first benchmarking study carried out by RfO in 2001, when 93 organisations reported for the first time ever on their performance on race across ten key indicators. A Business in the Community campaign, RfO this year challenged its network to revisit the reality of what is happening inside and outside of their organisations on race.

Ethnic Monitoring on the increase

There has been progress on a number of fronts, compared with the results of the 2001 survey. Organisations reported on activity in terms of business leadership on race, marketing to ethnic minorities as profitable consumers, diversity-proofing community involvement programmes, and evaluating policies and initiatives. In addition, there has been a significant leap in the number of organisations providing data on the ethnicity of their workforces - 78%, up from 19% of the organisations surveyed in 2001 - reflecting the fact that monitoring is increasingly standard good practice.

There has also been growth in terms of real commitment and tangible engagement with the issue areas across organisations. Leadership remains of critical importance (86 per cent of respondents have a Board level 'champion'), although the survey highlights the need to ensure effective programmes across the spectrum of each organisation's activity since much activity on race is still largely driven by human resources and equal opportunities departments.

Commenting on the report publication, Allan Leighton, RfO Chairman says: "UK business has come a long way in realising that to be successful the issue of race cannot be dismissed or marginalised, otherwise a significant business opportunity, talent and business advantage will be wasted. Whilst the 2002 findings are encouraging, the focus for the future must be on getting more leading edge companies, particularly in the FTSE 100, to benchmark themselves on what they are doing in this area, and to build upon the progress this far."

Copies of "Race: Creating Business Value", price £35 each, are available from Julia Joseph at Race for Opportunity, Telephone 0207 566 8707, Fax 0207 253 1877. Click here to visit the Race for Opportunity website.